The area of the TERRA.vita park extends from the large bend of the Weser river on the Porta Westfalica via Osnabrück to the Hahnenmoor in Emsland and from Bielefeld to the meeting of the Mittellandkanal with the Dortmund-Ems Kanal in Hörstel. It currently encompasses about 1,500 square kilometers (370,000 acres or 580 square miles) in the states of both Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia.
TERRA.vita is a registered, non-profit organization. Its members include the municipalities located with the park area, the cities and counties, some companies, and private individuals. The management is located in the county of Osnabrück, where a small dedicated team takes care of all aspects of the park and its further development. TERRA.vita is currently substantially supported by 50 volunteers, who are active as rangers, guides, and sponsors for humans and nature.
This circle is further enlarged by specialists and service partners who provide full-time professional services for guests of the park. In addition to these organizers and agencies, we work in close cooperation with tourism organizations and associations to develop and safeguard the necessary infrastructures and offers. Regular meetings and work groups ensure the mutual flow of information and cooperation and encourage new ideas and initiatives.
TERRA.vita retains national memberships in the Verband Deutscher Naturparke (VDN; Association of German National Parks), who also distinguished us as a “Quality Natural Park”, and in the EUROPARC Deutschland e.V. We are also an active member in the network of European Geoparks, and therefore also in the Global Geopark Network.
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In 2004, 17 bicycle routes were established in the natural park area – the TERRA.vita trails. Along with the hiking trails, they currently form the most important infrastructure of the park. The trails are well labeled throughout and are further enhanced with extensive accompanying background material, offering cyclists the opportunity to explore the park system in interesting and traffic-free ways.
The official opening of each trail was accompanied by a press event and a TERRA.vita-guided tour of the route. These tours were remarkably well attended each time, demonstrating that the interest in guided tours was apparently higher than we expected. However, it was also clear that our natural park team was too small to regularly offer such guided tours throughout the entire park. We would need people who, for the sake of their own love of bicycling and the transfer of their knowledge, were willing to guide visitors on the cycling trails.
This was the birth of the TERRA.vita volunteer program. The interest in volunteer work was enormous! Within a week of a corresponding announcement in the newspaper, more than 60 people responded who want to get involved with us.
In the course of time, these volunteers were schooled in the basic natural sciences as well as in dealing with groups. For those especially interested, two rounds of a course were offered leading to “Certified Nature and Landscape Guides,” which led to an expansion of the offer. Since 2007, our volunteers have offered an entire series of guided hikes, walks, and excursions that, aside from the TERRA.trails, enable insights into the history of the surrounding landscapes. Currently, there are approximately 40 active volunteers, whose offers form the basis of the event programs of the Nature and Geopark.
We are particularly proud that many of today’s active volunteers were present from the outset, having been involved for more than 10 years now. But, new faces also enrich the team again and again and bring fresh ideas to the offers of the park. The volunteer program is supported by our umbrella organization, the EUROPARC, which offers the volunteer managers regular training within the framework of the “Ehrensache Natur” (Nature – a matter of honor!) program, and provides networking among the protected areas.
In addition to the volunteers, who are involved over long periods of time, the park regularly engages interns as well as a staff member within the framework of the Federal Volunteer Service.
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